Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications No art collection is complete without an original painting by Woodland Park Zoo's 40-year-old orangutan, Towan. And with the holidays here, now's your chance to give a unique gift to the animal lover in your life. Towan's latest work, a 16"x20" painting done in festive acrylic red and green to reflect the theme of the holiday season, comes framed behind glass in a matte black wood frame. Included is a certificate of authenticity. Bidding has begun on eBay , ending December 12 at 10:36:30 PST. Don't miss your chance! Funds raised through this eBay auction will help support the 2009 conference of the Third Annual International Congress of Zookeepers/36th American Association of Zookeepers National Conference to be held at Woodland Park Zoo. This combined ICZ/AAZK conference represents the first time these two professional zoo keeper organizations have joined to bring together animal care professionals from around the w

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications The 5-week-old galago babies received another vet check-up this morning, which gave us a chance to snap some photos of the tiny primates who are quickly growing. (Remember these photos from when they were just one week old?) The two galago babies are out on view now in the Night Exhibit, which is kept in darkness during the day so visitors can watch nocturnal animals in their element. Look for them in the nesting box inside the Night Exhibit.

Watch the bushbabies (also known as galagos) get their vet exam under the care of our animal health team and zookeepers. Turn up the sound to learn more about what you're seeing: The galago babies are on view now in the Night Exhibit. You'll most likely spot them in a nesting box in their exhibit space.

We are celebrating the birth of twin galagos, an African primate also known as a “bushbaby.” The galagos were born October 11. Pictured here, the galagos received their first vet check-up on Fri., Oct. 17. All is well! The large eyes on this small creature are an adaptation to their nocturnal lifestyle in their native African habitats. The galagos are on view in the Night House exhibit, but the babies are staying close to their mother near their nest box, so it may be difficult to spot them in the dark! In the meantime, get your fix of images from behind the scenes at that first vet exam here: Photos by Ryan Hawk.

Orangutans and other animals enjoyed back-to-school themed treats this weekend to help say goodbye to summer and see the kiddies off to school. Sack lunches, textbooks loaded with surprise treats, and other clever enrichment items were used to not only give our animals a tasty snack, but to also stimulate them with new experiences and to encourage their natural behaviors. Credit goes to our keepers and volunteers who work so hard to create new and engaging enrichment for the animals. The "textbook" covers the orangutan keepers and volunteers decorated (Primate 101, Sign Language, etc.) delighted visitors but were also a hit with the orangutans, who ripped off the paper to use as a shade from the sun.

When an elderly patas monkey was diagnosed with painful kidney stones, our zoo vets went to work to relieve her discomfort in the least invasive way possible. After consulting with urologist Dr. Joseph Marquez from Seattle's The Polyclinic, the zoo's animal health experts decided to use a procedure that, though used often on humans, is uncommon on zoo animals. The 15-year-old monkey, named Fiona, was treated with a high-tech procedure that blasts kidney stones to passable pieces by repeated exposure to sound waves. Using a lithotripsy machine, generously supplied by NextMed, to send the sound waves, the team was able to break down Fiona's kidney stones into hundreds of small pieces that could then pass through her urinary tract. Fiona is recovering well now at the zoo's award-winning African Savanna exhibit. After just one day, she was feeling much better than she had in the weeks leading up to the procedure, according to her vets. Photo of procedure by Ric Brewer.

Towan, the 40-year-old orangutan at the zoo, has done it again. One of his preferred pastimes is the creation of beautiful (at least to our eyes and who knows, maybe his, too!) abstract artworks. Just in time for Mother's Day, he's painted two colorful masterpieces. We've put the paintings on Ebay in order to help raise funds for the 2009 International Congress of Zoo Keepers (ICZK) conference, to be held here in September 2009. ICZK joins keepers from around the globe in order to meet, network and learn valuable new insights into their profession and to help them share new techniques in order to care for the animals in their institutions in innovative new ways. The bidding is on now until May 8, so bid early...and often! Click here to read more about the ICZK and make your bid.

The black-and-white colobus monkeys on exhibit in our Tropical Rain Forest area have received some additional exhibit-mates and so now five colobus make the spot their home. Last week brought introductions to each other. Many species of monkeys are highly social but highly territorial and hierarchical so careful introductions are vital to incorporating new members into the group. Soon the new members were exploring the exhibit and getting their social nuances worked out. Colobus are native across equitorial Africa and are known for their dramatic black coats with flowing white hair. The name "colobus" is derived from the Greek word meaning "docked" or "mutilated." Colobus monkeys once were thought to be abnormal because they have no thumb, or only a small stub where the thumb would usually be. This is actually an adaptation rather than a mutilation which allows colobus monkeys to easily travel along the tops of branches quadripedally. (Photo by Dennis Dow)

The newly named baby gorilla is getting more and more active with each passing day. Mother Amanda, always cautious, seems to be allowing her more latitude as she begins to explore the exhibit and interact with her sister Calaya and groupmate Jumoke. But actions speak louder than words so here's a video of the bundle of energy as she plays. (Photo by Dennis Dow; video by Ryan Hawk)

Orangutan Towan made national news on the recent broadcast of "Weekend Edition" with Scott Simon. Gigi Allianic , the zoo's PR manager, noted Towan's interest in painting and his intensity in creating his "art." You can hear the piece at the following link to NPR. Tune into our blog next week and we will be posting video of Towan making yet another masterpiece. And soon, we'll be featuring a special Mother's Day piece for auction on eBay! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89583858

The baby gorilla now has a name, thanks to 3-1/2-year-old Rhys Olson of Seattle (o.k., he had a bit of help from his dad, Rick!). Uzumma is an Igbo-langugage word that means "bearer of joy to the family". Rhys wins a year-long membership to the zoo, a $150 Ivar's gift card, a gorilla "adoption" through our ZooParent program, a large plush gorilla toy and a framed print of the baby and her handprint. Ivar's CEO Bob Donegan announced the winning name today at 10:00 a.m. at the gorilla exhibit with Rhys and his dad in attendance, along with five other top contests. Some of the other suggested names were Ekemma, Igbo for "beautiful Eke Market day"; Abeni, a Yoruba word for "one who you must beg for to have". The zoo's gorilla keeper staff and volunteers served as judges. We thank everyone who entered (nearly 1,000 entries overall) and we congratulate Rhys and his family on their achievement! (Photo of Rick Olson and gorilla naming winner

The contest has ended, the names researched and checked and on April 4, the baby western lowland gorilla female born last October will finally receive her new name which is...ah, of course you'll have to wait! In association with Ivar's and Kidd Valley restaurants, we asked the community to find an appropriate name for the baby. We generally try to use names from the languages found in their original range countries so contest participants were able to choose from Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or Swahili. We had lots of great suggestions until it was narrowed down to just seven and then the winner randomly drawn from those. The winner will be announced during the Primetime Primates day which takes place during our inaugural EcoWeekend event. At 10:00 a.m. on April 4, representatives from the zoo and Ivar's CEO will announce the name and zoo visitors will be treated to delicious "babycake" cupcakes from Cupcake Royale (while supplies last, of course!). Meanwhile, here are a

We were fortunate to recently have Thomas Breuer join us to discuss his project focusing on the use of "bais" --the swampy clearings in the forest---located in central Africa. These bais are havens for native wildlife including forest elephants and western lowland gorillas. Much of Breuer's work is tracking the demographics of the gorilla groups that come to feed on the rich plant life in the bais. During his six years, they have identified and observed several groups and individually identified gorillas, tracking their individual life histories. In the process, they've learned a tremendous amount about gorilla behavior and helped conserve the populations utilizing the bais. As part of his visit, we taped a segment with Breuer as he talks about the project. Woodland Park Zoo is one of the proud funders of this project. Take a look at the video in the Video Bar on the right. Also included is an excellent piece by National Geographic showing recent discoveries about gor

Twin orangutans Towan and Chinta seemed to have ball celebrating their 40th birthday. Nice weather brought out hundreds of people to the zoo to help in the event. While the orangutans received wrapped gifts filled with treats and "orang cupcakes", visitors received tasty cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. Zookeepers shared stories about the orangutans, reminiscing about their antics over the past four decades. In this photo, male orangutan Towan tore up a gift-wrapped package to discover his treats inside. (Photo by Dennis Dow)

If it weren't thrilling enough when our latest western lowland gorilla was born in October, now the entire community gets the opportunity to help name her! The now 4-month-old gorilla has been through quite a bit, when a congenital defect called for surgery to correct. Thanks to a team of physicians from Seattle's Children Hospital, she's now right as rain and ready for a name. In cooperation with Ivar's and Kidd Valley restaurants, we're looking for a name that derives from the languages of their origin countries. In this case, names of Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and Swahili languages are the suggested sources. It's not too hard to discover appropriate names: simply go online and type in "Yoruba language", etc., in any search engine, or visit your local library and find dictionaries for those languages. Then visit any Western Washington Ivar's or Kidd Valley restaurant to pick up and fill in an entry form. The contest runs from March 2 through March 23.

Turning 40 isn't going to be traumatic for Towan and his twin sister Chinta on Saturday. The party starts at 11:00 a.m. and runs to 12:30 p.m. The orangutans will receive wrapped "presents" that they enjoy tearing into, special treats and our human guests will receive tasty gourmet cupcakes courtesy of Cupcake Royale (while supplies last!) and everyone is welcome to enter into a free raffle to win one of Towan's increasingly famous works of art (see below to the entry that offered two of his paintings for auction on eBay). Our February entry showed Towan and Chinta as infants, so we thought it only fair that we post photos of them now (That's Towan , the male on the left, and Chinta , the female, on the right). They would also like to say hello to Hannah, Mark and Conni up in Vancouver, B.C. Hannah was looking forward to coming to the birthday party, but unfortunately she's not feeling well so the orangutans hope this finds her on the mend!

Turning 40 is a milestone for humans…and for non-human animals too! Join Woodland Park Zoo at a birthday party for its twin orangutans turning the big 4-0. Towan (toe-WAHN) and Chinta (CHEEN-tuh), brother and sister, respectively, will open gift-wrapped presents with their favorite treats and indulge in special “orangutan” birthday cupcakes. All five of the zoo’s orangutans will join in the celebration. Birthday festivities include: complimentary cupcakes for visitors (while supplies last), an opportunity to meet the keepers and hear about the day-to-day quality care provided for the great apes, a photo collage of the twins, an orangutan discovery box with fascinating facts and items, and a free raffle for a commemorative art piece hand painted by orangutan Towan. The birthday party is free with zoo admission. Born at Woodland Park Zoo in February 1968, the twin orangutans gained instant national celebrity status as the first-known twin orangutans born in a zoo. Photos of the pair in d

39-year-old orangutan Towan enjoys painting. He's become a "master" artist it seems and two of his paintings are now being offered in an eBay auction in order to raise funds for the 2009 International Congress of Zookeepers/American Association of Zoo Keepers conference that will be held at Woodland Park Zoo in September 2009. Painting is one of the activities that several animals at the zoo take part in that helps stimulate them physically and mentally. The orangutans are offered non-toxic paints and canvas in order to provide them an activity, much like kids in pre-school will enjoy dabbling in the "fine arts" with finger painting. The ICZ/AAZK conference is a great way that zookeepers from around the world get to meet, interact, and network new ideas for animal husbandry, enrichment, and other topics related to improving and increasing the quality and depth of care they give to the animals. Bidding on Towan's two original paintings goes until February 8,

The baby gorilla is doing very well and the doctors from Children's Hospital were extremely pleased at how well the surgical incision is healing. She's using her arms and legs normally and is picking up weight. She and mother Amanda are out in the exhibit intermittently most days that it's warmer (anything under 45 degrees and they stay in where it's toasty!). Photo by Ryan Hawk

The baby is doing very well and was reunited with her mother shortly after she recovered from the anesthetic. The doctors say that her prognosis for a full recovery is very good and mother Amanda readily accepted her back. One recent comment asked about vitamin supplements for the animals. All animals at the zoo have diets that are constantly examined not only by our staff, but animal nutritionists who are tops in the field. Each diet is formulated not only for that particular species, but the needs of the individual animal. Although each diet is nutritionally complete, some of the animals are given supplements, particularly in cases such as pregnancy or in circumstances where they made need additional care. We've posted a video of the day of the baby gorilla's surgery at the top right of this blog. Special note: although we've tried not too make it too graphic, there are a couple seconds that may be too much for sensitive folks!